


You've Got Mail

by Lampshadez



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 00:05:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11543271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lampshadez/pseuds/Lampshadez
Summary: A few weeks after the gang's finally rid themselves of Mictian, it turns out Mictian has left one more surprise for Waverly and Nicole, in the form of mail addressed to Waverly delivered to Nicole's apartment.  Maybe Waverly's got another secret she's been keeping since before they got rid of Mictian...





	You've Got Mail

**Author's Note:**

> In a few other fics, I used "Miksun" but Emily Andras said "Mictian" on her twitter so that's what I'm going with here/from now on.  
> Also, I don't think I've written Jeremy before and he's got so much personality in terms of body language and voice inflection that I personally think he's tough to write (though I love the character and the actor, I think they are both such fun, welcome additions to the show!) but I thought it was about time I write him so here he is. Also, I've been catching up on Purgatory Case Files and he and Nicole worked together on something, so I wanted to give them a little time together.

Nicole was used to having Waverly’s things around her apartment.  Some of it was just normal things that people left behind – receipts and wrappers and packaging from things Waverly had brought in.  Most times, Nicole could find a can of the obscure strawberry soda that Waverly liked in her fridge, or a few ingredients that Waverly had brought over to cook with some time were still in Nicole’s cupboard.

Some of Waverly’s clothes were mixed in with Nicole’s own laundry – some on purpose (Waverly swore that, even after four glasses of wine, she could handle pouring herself a fifth.  She could not), and some accidental (though Waverly swore every time she came around that she’d remember to pick out the sweater she left, but she always forgot.)

Then there were the blankets.  Nicole was a simple woman with simple tastes.  She had a blanket on her bed – two in the winter – and one on her couch.  Then Waverly became a frequent visitor and more sit-able surfaces had blankets on them than not.

Surfaces that didn’t have blankets on them probably had books on them.  Waverly never brought Black Badge files to Nicole’s, but if she knew she was going to be there for a while, she might bring a book or three.  She’d also been known to insist to Nicole – who liked books about ancient languages, supernatural theories and evidence, and the odd Nicholas Sparks, probably more than the average person, but certainly not as much as Waverly – that the books were “so good!” and that Nicole should “check them out when she had a chance!”

So, Nicole was used to having some of Waverly’s things in her place, and she liked it.  Weirdly, it made her place feel more like home.  It had still only been a few weeks since they finally got rid of Mictian, and so much was changing really quickly and not really in their control, but Nicole liked that she still had that feeling of home somewhere, and that it was tied to Waverly.

What she was not expecting was to get mail addressed to Waverly, with no warning, delivered to her apartment.

**-WE-**

Nicole knocked on the door to Black Badge and gave it a few seconds before walking in.

“Hey,” she said, seeing Jeremy first.  “Is Waverly in yet?”

Jeremy nodded.  “Yeah, she and Wynonna are in a meeting with Dolls, but I don’t think it’ll take very long.”

Nicole nodded.  She seemed a bit flustered.  She was going to turn to go, but she stopped and spoke some more to Jeremy.  “Hey, so, you went to university.”

“Yes,” Jeremy nodded.

“How long were you in for?” Nicole asked.  “I mean, you have, what, three degrees?”

“I got the last two concurrently,” he said.  “I have an undergrad, then the last two are more advanced but they took about three years, including research.”

“Three years,” Nicole breathed.  “On top of your undergrad.”

Jeremy nodded.  “Yep.  Honestly, I know I’m not a doctor, but at my uni all the grad students wore lab coats and that was a big part of it,” he said, flaring out the tails of his lab coat a bit.  He nodded toward Nicole.  “Why, are you thinking of going back to school?”

Nicole shook her head.  “No, I’m not.”

Jeremy could see the envelopes in Nicole’s hand.  “Whoa, does that say Columbia?  Damn, Nicole!”

“Jeremy…”

“Welcome to the Master’s Program’…” he read, squinting.  “That’s a big deal!  Congratulations!”

“Jeremy!” Nicole snapped a bit, folding the envelopes and putting them in her jacket pocket.  She softened her tone.  “They’re not mine.”

“Oh.”

The door to Dolls’ office opened and he and the Earp sisters walked out.

Dolls and Wynonna both nodded acknowledgment to Nicole, and Waverly smiled when she saw her.

“Hey,” Waverly grinned.  “What brings you here?”

“Do you have a minute?” Nicole asked.

“Oh…” Jeremy said.

Nicole gave him a stern-ish look, and Waverly gave him a confused one.  Jeremy shook his head and went emphatically back to his computer.

Waverly looked back at Nicole, then over at Dolls and Wynonna, both of whom just sort of shrugged.

“Yeah,” Waverly said.  “I have a minute.  Are you alright?”

Nicole nodded, but didn’t speak.  She walked out with Waverly following close behind.

**-WE-**

“What’s up?” Waverly asked, watching Nicole close the door to the break room.

“You tell me,” Nicole tried, taking the envelopes out of pocket and handing them to Waverly.  She heard how harsh it sounded, and tried again.  “Waverly, are you going to New York?  Or Toronto, or Vancouver, or…I don’t know where Stanford is.”

“Palo Alto,” Waverly said.  “California.”

She was looking at the envelopes and looked up at Nicole.

“How’d you get these?”

“They have my address on them,” Nicole said.

Waverly looked instantly confused about that.  Nicole was confused, too.  She didn’t know why Waverly would choose to have them delivered there, or why Waverly wouldn’t tell her about this if she knew they would be delivered there.

“Oh,” Waverly said.  After a few moments, she looked like she realized something.  “ _Oh_.  Mictian.”

There was a level of hatred in Waverly’s voice that Nicole only ever heard when Waverly talked about him and her experience with him.

“What about him?”

“Okay, I remember now,” Waverly said.  “Okay, yeah, I applied to a few grad schools a few months ago, but I applied to online schools.  And Mictian,” she said, sighing a bit at the mention of his name.  “He used to keep repeating in the back of my head that I was only applying to online schools because I didn’t think I was good enough for a ‘real’ school, or whatever.”

“Waverly,” Nicole said, saddened by this.  If she thought this had anything to do with Mictian, she’d have been more careful bringing it up.  And she didn’t know Waverly doubted herself like this.  “You are good enough.  You’re the smartest person I know.”

“Thanks,” Waverly said, smiling a bit.

“I mean, baby, it looks like you got in everywhere.”

Waverly looked at the envelopes again.  They all had similar “Welcome to the program!” messages on them.  She smiled a bit, but the smile fell.

“I’m sorry these got sent to you,” Waverly said.  “God, Mictian was such an asshole.”

Nicole laughed a bit, but only a bit.  “Would you have told me?”

Now Waverly’s heart hurt a bit.  She knew she sometimes kept things secret when she maybe shouldn’t or didn’t need to, and she didn’t want to keep secrets from Nicole, not when doing so hurt Nicole.

“Yes,” Waverly said, meaning it.  “I’m still picking between a few different online programs, but I would’ve told you when I decided.  Really.”

“All these schools have online programs?” Nicole asked.

“See, that’s the thing,” Waverly said after a moment, finger guns blazing.  “For a degree this specific, most big schools like this want you on-campus so they can really work with you on your program.”

“Oh,” Nicole said.  They just looked at each other for a few moments.  “So, which one are you going to go to?”

“Nicole, I’m not going,” Waverly said, like it was simple.  And, to her, it was.

“What?  Waverly, you got in to some of the best schools on the planet-!”

“And they don’t have the programs I want,” Waverly said.  “There’s a reason it took demonic possession for me to apply to them.”

“Waverly, you’re good enough to be there,” Nicole said.  “You deserve to be there, at any one of those places.”

“I know,” Waverly said.  “And I don’t want to be.”

“Why not?”

Waverly hadn’t really thought about it.  Or, rather, she hadn’t really explained it.  That was one of the benefits, she knew, of never telling people what she was up to – she never had to explain herself.

“I just…don’t,” she said, shrugging.  She was sure of her decision, she really was.  “I mean, yeah, I guess Mictian was on to something.  I was a little nervous that I was getting my degrees by correspondence because I didn’t think I was good enough for a more traditional school, but I am.  I just don’t want it.”

Nicole didn’t look like she totally understood yet, but like she was trying.

“Baby, I haven’t been in a real classroom since high school,” Waverly said.  “And even then, it was Purgatory High.  The classes never had more than fifteen students in them, especially since they were all Honors and AP, and it was all with people I’d known my entire life.  A ‘real’ college would be so different.”

“But different can be good,” Nicole tried.  “Scary, but good.”

“I know, but I’m not scared, that’s not the point,” Waverly said.  “I want an education, not an experience.  I want to go back to school because we’re dealing with more and more supernatural shit and it’s starting to feel like I’m running out of places to look for answers.”

Nicole felt that pang in her chest again.

“Waverly, it’s not your job to have all the answers...”

“It’s literally my job to have the answers.”

“Most of them,” Nicole said, stepping toward her.  She put her hand on Waverly’s arm and Waverly leaned into it.  “And you have that whole team in there, baby.”

“I know,” Waverly said, because she did know.  “But, I mean, aren’t I the answers person…?”

“Oh, no, you definitely are,” Nicole said.  “What I meant was, your going back to school sounds like professional development that improves your work, so, I know Black Badge is kind of operating without a budget or a clue, really, right now, you should try to get Dolls to pay your tuition.”

Waverly laughed.  “I mean, it doesn’t hurt to try.”  She turned her head and kissed Nicole’s hand.

“Why’d Mictian send it to me, though?” Nicole said.  “Because when I got mail addressed to you I thought…” she laughed nervously.  “I don’t know what I thought.”

Waverly looked down, jaw clenched a bit.  “I should be more honest with you.”

Nicole opened her mouth, but didn’t say anything.  She wasn’t really inclined to disagree, but she wasn’t sure what to say.  She wasn’t sure “honest” was the right word.

“Or, upfront, maybe,” Waverly said.  “I don’t know.”  She shrugged, not a shrug of not caring but a shrug of admitting something big and not wanting to fully admit all the emotional weight behind it.  “I think I avoid things, sometimes, and I don’t want to avoid things with you.”

“Was this…” Nicole began, then lost it a bit in the absurdity.  “Was this Mictian trying to give you relationship advice?” she laughed.

Waverly laughed, too.  “No, I think this was probably more of him trying to screw me over with you.”

“Well, that backfired, huh?”

Waverly smiled.  Not for the first time, she felt so, so appreciative of Nicole.  “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> I adore Waverly Earp but dude definitely hides and avoids things. Also, I've written into a few fics now the idea of her going back to school and getting an advanced degree, so obviously I like that idea a lot. What do you guys think?
> 
> Also, I have a tumblr! https://forsomereason-lampshadez.tumblr.com/


End file.
